‘Reacher’s Pile of Source Material Presents a Strange Problem

Reacher has been far more successful so far than Tom Cruise’s two movies from the 2010s, and the plan at Prime Video seems to be to keep the party going for as long as possible. This is obviously great news, and the show is in a great position to pull off an incredibly long run. That said, what can easily be viewed as a huge advantage could also be interpreted as a bit of a downside if seen through sufficiently pessimistic eyes.

Head of Amazon Studios Jennifer Salke (via The Hollywood Reporter) spoke about the potential longevity for Reacher as far back as 2024. Even when the show was just two seasons long, Salke confirmed, “We’ll have Alan as long as he will play Jack Reacher. No end in sight for that. Hopefully that’s for a very, very, very long time.” Ritchson has similarly discussed how he’s on board with the project for the foreseeable future. With Reacher Season 4 almost here, it’s exciting to think about the show’s ultimate fate, but it’s also a little upsetting.

‘Reacher’ Has a Huge Advantage Not Many Other Shows Have

Alan Ritchson as Jack Reacher in Prime Video’s Reacher

Brooke Palmer/Prime Video

Reacher is based on a series of novels by Lee Child. Each season, a new book is chosen to form the basis of the narrative in that batch of episodes. While some changes have been made to accommodate the story’s jump from the page to the small screen, they’ve largely been faithful adaptations so far. The same is true of both Tom Cruise movies; they were each based on Lee Child novels. November 2025 saw the publication of Child’s 30th Jack Reacher adventure. So, even accounting for the six books that have currently been chosen for live-action adaptation, there are still 24 left untouched.

Books being adapted into TV shows is obviously nothing new. It’s been done for decades, and if anything, it’s becoming even more commonplace as the thirst for the medium continues to intensify. The issue with this is that many of these adaptations become so successful that the demand for more episodes often means exhausting the source material and moving on to penning original adventures for the characters. Some examples of this scenario include Dexter, Game of Thrones, You, and Wayward Pines. Although running out of books isn’t necessarily a disaster, it has resulted in a pretty drastic downturn in quality at times.

“I owe it to the audience to explore as many of these books as my body will allow, and I owe it to the people that took a shot on me when I was a huge risk for them. They have given me a real career.”

– Alan Ritchson on playing Jack Reacher

Thankfully, Reacher never has to worry about this. TV shows rarely run for 20+ seasons, which would be the case if the source material were ever to be completely depleted. Furthermore, the Jack Reacher books are still being written and published. Although Lee Child has since stepped back from writing the books, his younger brother (pen name Andrew Child) has inherited the responsibility. The Prime Video adaptation won’t ever be short of source material, and if it ever goes rogue and takes Ritchson’s character on an original adventure, it’ll be a conscious decision to do so rather than it being out of necessity.

The Downside of ‘Reacher’s Huge Pile of Literary Source Material

Alan Ritchson in Reacher with blood on his face and hands

It’s a great problem to have, but the abundance of Jack Reacher books is still sort of an issue. In short, probably most of the novels will never be adapted by the Prime Video production. Instead, there will be a huge number of stories that remain untouched. They’ll obviously still be available in their original form for fans to engage with, but not everyone is a big reader. Reacher brings the literary series to a whole new audience, and many viewers won’t ever witness some of Childs’ explosive stories. The thought of Reacher Season 30 sounds exciting, but how realistic is it? Not very.

The show has quietly addressed this phenomenon already. There have been moments where a quick line of dialogue or a brief exchange between characters all but confirms that the events of certain Jack Reacher books have happened to Ritchson’s antihero off-screen. For example, there have been signs that versions of One Shot and Never Go Back, which were adapted for the Tom Cruise movies, also happened to Ritchson’s character, but in between seasons. This has likely been done to rule out the show remaking the movies, but it also sets a precedent for more Jack Reacher books being addressed in this way.

Alternatively, Reacher showrunner Nick Santora could be content with cherry-picking the novels that he thinks best serve his larger storyline. While the source material consists of adventures that are pretty much all self-contained, Prime Video has a few more elements of being a serialized action saga. In other words, many of the books may simply not be suitable for Santora’s narrative blueprint, and maybe he’ll stop when he finds a natural stopping point. If so, then there will be plenty of novels left over for whenever Reacher is inevitably rebooted again years down the line.

The Upcoming ‘Reacher’ Spin-off Has the Opposite Challenge to Its Parent Show

Maria Sten’s Frances Neagley has been a very important character throughout Reacher so far, and although she is based on a character from Lee Childs’ books, the live-action Neagley has been unusually prolific. Neagley only appears in a handful of the novels, and only one of those novels has been adapted by Prime Video. Taking things even further, Sten’s character is set to lead her own Reacher spin-off show. Neagley is expected to premiere in 2026.

So, while there is more source material for Neagley that hasn’t yet been addressed, there is significantly less than there is for Ritchson’s character. Even if the spin-off does opt to focus on the books that feature Neagley, it’ll soon find itself needing to write original stories to extend its run. Alternatively, Neagley may be entirely original from the beginning, while its parent show focuses on being far more faithful to the literary source material. Only time will tell how the Reacher franchise will shape up in this respect in the months and years to come.